PureInsight | June 23, 2008
[PureInsight.org] Many Falun
Dafa practitioners traveled to Flushing, Queens in New York City this
past weekend, and sharing our experiences and what we learned can help
us progress and do even better in the future. Below are some of my
experiences and understandings.
1) Our purpose is to save sentient beings
It was raining on the first day of our activities, but the rain stopped
as the band started to play. Whenever there was a break in the music,
those troublemakers would start to shout loudly to stir up others who
gathered there. Some passersby also swore at us but they looked
nervous. As a journalist, I was thinking, "How can I complete
interviews in such a situation?" After realizing that I had the
attachment of simply accomplishing things, I reminded myself, "I am
here to save sentient beings."
After readjusting my mind, I put my camera away in my bag (to avoid
causing concern in other people). Then I started to chat with people
who stood watching, and I realized many of them came to hear the truth
and learn more about Falun Gong (Falun Dafa). Their questions and
expectations reminded me that I came here on a sacred mission. After
that, I approached them and started to talk with them one by one. The
discussions were in various languages, including: Cantonese, Mandarin,
Korean, English, Taishanese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, etc. Although I
could not speak all these languages/dialects, I seemed to understand
them. So, I joined many of their discussions.
To my surprise, although the situation in Flushing seemed intense, many
people dared to step forward and to be interviewed by our media to show
their support for Falun Gong. A major breakthrough for me was that
after finishing each interview, I always asked the interviewee, "Have
you quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?" They would then provide me
with an alias so that I could submit their resignation on one of the
Epoch Times websites.
There was one gentleman I interviewed who used to work for a provincial
government agency. After the interview, he said, "I support Falun Gong
very much. Often, Falun Gong practitioners said I was acting as if I
was one of them. In fact, I feel I am not qualified. They are great
human beings that can sacrifice everything, but I couldn't achieve
that."
As he was walking away, I felt there was something I had to tell him. I
walked towards him as he was going to get on a bus. I stopped him and
said to him enthusiastically, "I have one important sentence to tell
you." Then I said, "Can you read Zhuan Falun
after going back?" He seemed touched and said, "Let me give it a try."
I told him, "Please promise me that you will read it." He said, "Yes, I
will." He said thank you as he left.
2) Righteous thoughts when interviewing people
Whenever I interviewed someone, there would be other people who came
over to harass or threaten the interviewee. At the beginning, I used
righteous thoughts to support the interviewee. Later, some
practitioners told me that for those who came to interfere, you can
look them in the eye and they would back off. I tried it and it worked.
But because I became complacent, several troublemakers came to
interfere and soon there were too many of them for me to be able to
look them all in the eyes. At that moment, the person I was
interviewing was sharing some critical points and he could not be
distracted, so while holding the microphone in one hand, I raised my
other palm to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. Soon
after that, those disruptive people left quietly.
3) Those who were poisoned
There were many people who were poisoned by the CCP and came to
interfere. Through this trip, I felt Teacher's compassion. Teacher gave
them many opportunities to learn the truth.
A lady from Fujian province told a practitioner who distributed
newspapers that she supported Falun Gong and wanted to be interviewed.
Then during the interview, she even said she was a practitioner.
However, after asking her two questions, I found that she made many
mistakes in her replies. Realizing she was hired by the CCP to come
here pretending to be a practitioner, I started to talk with her about
the basic human sense of conscience. Then I spoke about the persecution
that Falun Gong practitioners experienced, as well as the dark future
for those who were hired by the CCP to come here to make trouble. She
said, "If someone is hired by the CCP and does things against his or
her own conscience, it is too awful and shameful." I said, "I am happy
you think so." Then she nodded and said, "I understand." She waved to
me as she left.
Because the situation on the first day was so intense, after
discussing, practitioners decided that we should stay in groups the
next day. On the following day, due to security concerns, police
separated practitioners and those who came to cause trouble on
different sides of the street.
After being unable to find the two practitioners who were supposed to
walk together with me, I thought I could handle it myself. I then
walked over to a crowd that spoke the Hokkien dialect. Sometimes their
minds were clear and sometimes they were not. I felt pity for them.
Seeing the practitioners doing meditation, one of them said, "You see,
Falun Gong is great and even the sun comes out now for them." Then that
person continued, "So many people practice Falun Gong. It seems there
are practitioners from all parts of the world." Following this topic, I
said, "Yes. Their meditation is so peaceful, so why does the CCP want
to persecute them?" They seemed to think about this question, but after
a while, they started to say bad words again. Seeing this group of
people, I really did not know what to say to them.
As I was thinking about what to say, one of them asked me, "Do you know
that Falun Gong is well - connected? From time to time, they ask police
to arrest people." As I was thinking about how to reply, the
practitioner who had accompanied me saw me there alone and came to
assist, saying, "If you guys did not physically attack Falun Gong
practitioners, why would they call the police to arrest people?" A
person, who appeared to be a leader among them, said to me, "You Falun
Gong people had a big win today." Later, I heard from a local
practitioner that this ringleader had been very rampant several days
earlier but apparently was much more restrained now.
In fact, these instigators are a group of people that live a pitiful
life. They belong to the lower class of society and were now being
employed by the CCP. Nonetheless, we cannot simply give up on them.
One practitioner did not come back from that day's activities until
2AM. I was upset since we had been looking for him everywhere. After
hearing his experience, however, I felt impressed by his righteous
words and righteous actions. In fact, he was in a crowd of about 30
people who did not know the truth about Dafa. At first, those people
swore at him, but after hearing the truth, they decided they would
protect this practitioner if something happened.
My understanding is that as long as our goal is to save sentient
beings, we will be fine. Of course, it is always good to notify other
practitioners about your plans so that they would not worry.
4) The seemingly rampant evil is in fact weak
After the first day's event, we learned about the strategy that the CCP
agents would use on the following day. It was immediately exposed in
the media. So on the following day, it did not work for them.
During the activity, one of the CCP agents was reporting the situation
there by phone. After he finished, a practitioner said to him, "You
have been working hard for the CCP on this." Another practitioner
wanted to take a picture of him, and he immediately covered his face
with both hands and left.
One middle - aged lady spoke to a crowd, "I am a Falun Gong
practitioner." Then she said things to defame Dafa. A plain - clothed
practitioner asked her, "Are you really a practitioner? Can I take a
picture of you?" She immediately left.
5) Saving sentient being is also a process of self - improvement
Clarifying the truth face - to - face is a good opportunity for us to use all our abilities to save sentient beings.
There was one practitioner and who was a newspaper columnist. His
articles were very powerful and to the point: intimidating evil, waking
up worldly people, and helping practitioners to be clear on issues.
However, his appearance was that of an insignificant, modest
intellectual with glasses. In face - to - face truth - clarification,
his combination of honesty and wisdom was very impressive.
On one occasion, he walked into a crowd to see what they were talking
about and said, "Can we make friends?" One of them said, "We do not
want to make friends with you." He said, "But I do hope to make friends
with you." Those people were thrown off guard and naturally started to
talk with him.
Another time a fellow practitioner called him on the phone, saying,
"Please come to help me, I am surrounded." He said, "Then you need to
get out of there." That practitioner spoke loudly, "No, I cannot. Three
women are shouting at me, and I cannot handle it." He said, "Then it
will not help even if I go there. Now I am sending forth righteous
thoughts to support you. You will surely make it." Eventually, with the
help of his righteous thoughts, the other practitioner got out of that
predicament.
It is indeed rare for us to come across such a direct opportunity to
clarify the truth and eliminate evil. We really need to grasp such
opportunities. No matter what projects we have done in the past, almost
all of time - even when making phone calls - we are communicating
indirectly and not doing face - to - face truth - clarification. So
please do make the best use of these opportunities.
Let's think about it, the evil gang even spent resources transporting
people here from China for this purpose. How can we not take this
seriously?
6) The urgency of the truth - clarification process
In the past when having an activity in New York, we usually started to
prepare at least one week in advance. This time, we heard the news on
Thursday and traveled to New York on Friday. That is to say, the
requirements for us in Fa rectification are higher and higher. It is up
to us how to handle these things well. Every excuse or notion in our
minds could be a huddle that prevents us from doing well.
This time, I also had some chances to share with New York practitioners
and learned a lot. Some practitioners said, this opportunity is given
to sentient beings and it is also given to Dafa practitioners. There
are some practitioners who had not previously stepped forward to
clarify the facts who came out this time. Non - diligent practitioners
became diligent, and diligent practitioners became even more diligent.
Yesterday, several practitioners and I shared understandings about our
trip to New York. I wrote this article based on our discussion. Please
point out anything inappropriate. Thank you!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/6/5/53201.html
